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THE ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS
AN URGENT CALL FOR GLOBAL ACTION
The environmental problem now facing humanity poses the most serious danger to
mankind since the human race began.
Not only is it fraught with unprecedented threats to the human future. It is a problem
of the utmost urgency and demands concerted global action at all levels within the next 10 to
15 years. The time available for its solution is running out at an alarming rate. Humanity is
racing towards the abyss of environmental devastation with such a blinkered vision that the
impending peril is scarcely perceived by the vast bulk of the global population.
It is indeed sad to note that in this age in which information is more easily available to
all levels of the population than ever before;
 the extent of this danger
 its immediacy
 its irreversibility
 its impact on thousands of generations
 the fact that it could be prevented through concerted action
 its violation of every principle known to law and religion
 its potential for the destruction of all civilisation
all these are scarcely known or perceived by the generation perpetrating this damage.
It is for this reason that those perpetrating the damage rarely bring it to the attention of
the general public and indeed often try to conceal it.
Consequently, this danger is permitted to grow at an exponentially increasing rate,
without a voice of protest reaching the corridors of power – economic power, political power,
military power and technological power – where decisions are taken on a daily basis that will
impair the environment even further.
I recall that when the International Court of Justice was hearing submissions
regarding the Legality of Nuclear Weapons, one of the lawyers for the anti-nuclear powers
observed that if stone age men had been able to damage our environment 25,000 years ago we
would have condemned them as savagers, brutes and barbarians. Even if people of the stone
age could have caused such damage, they would not have known what they were doing. On
the other hand, we know full well that we have been damaging the environment for multiples
of 25,000 years. Yet we continue to do so with full knowledge of this damage we are causing
to future generations.
If prehistoric men could be condemned as savagers, brutes and barbarians for such
conduct, I wonder what language future generations would adopt to describe our generation
who are polluting their environment with full knowledge that we are doing so.
The conclusion that we arrive at is that our generation is clearly the most rapacious
generation that ever existed since the human race began. A society claiming to be civilised,
advanced and law abiding cannot permit such a reversal of all the human duties towards our
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children and our children’s children which has been built up through untold centuries of effort
and sacrifice.
President Eisenhower in his celebrated farewell address warned the American people
of the dangers of the military/industrial complex which was entering into every detail of their
daily lives and warned them of the danger to privacy and human rights resulting from the
activities of this conglomerate of power. The danger he so wisely perceived was only a
smattering of the dangers that prevail today. If this great military commander were alive in
our time, he would have been aghast at the dangers that are proliferating, while those in
authority as well as the general public turn a blind eye on them.
The urgency of the problem
Carbon emissions to the atmosphere, pollution of the water resources, testing of
nuclear weapons, surreptitious disposal of nuclear waste, deforestation, endangering of fauna
and flora, uncontrolled disposal of industrial waste and depletion of earth resources are
proceeding at an ever increasing rate. This is regardless of the fact that the damage already
done has been so great that it has even caused significant climate change in our time, which
will increase exponentially if preventive action is not taken immediately. If such operations
are continued even at the present rate, the environment will, in the next decade or two, have
deteriorated to levels which will not be able to support the global population as we now know
it.
There is no safe method of disposing of waste from nuclear reactors and all of this is
accumulating. Even the International Atomic Energy Agency has no record of the waste
produced by each nuclear energy installation.
The surreptitious disposal of these emissions pollutes the environment for multiples of
25,000 years, which is only the half-life of some of these chemicals. This is an untold danger
to future generations, and children for thousands of years will be playing and living on ground
which discharges radioactive emissions. The fish in polluted waters are damaged even
genetically and such pollution to ocean space anywhere is a pollution to ocean space
everywhere. In addition, accidents are inevitable in all industrial establishments. The Bhopal
incident in India has caused damage to thousands of people and its effects will continue for
many years to come. Chernobyl and Fukushima have displayed to the world the tremendous
danger of nuclear accidents resulting from the fact that nuclear plants cannot be supervised
every millisecond, as required. Hundreds of nuclear reactors are functioning all over the
world, each of which is a source of hidden and uncontrollable danger.
All of these factors in combination makes this a problem of the greatest urgency.
Even more importantly nuclear testing still takes place, despite the harrowing
sufferings and terrible genetic defects these induce. Such problems were well described to the
International Court in the case of New Zealand v France. Wittnesses from territories in which
nuclear testing took place appeared in Court and gave us glimpses of the horrific genetic
deformaties of children born after the bombings. The deformaties were so great that some
children born after the testing could scarcely be recognised as human children and were
swiftly burried. Among them were children born with two heads, with knees joined and some
who looked like objects with a palpitating heart under a translusent skin.
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The possibility of the use of a nuclear weapon grows by the day as more and more
states and organisations seek to lay their hands on nuclear weapons and the knowledge
necessary for their construction proliferates through the internet to the point where the
knowledge necessary to make a crude nuclear weapon is widely available. The materials
necessary to make such a weapon are also available owing to the proliferation of nuclear
reactors whose waste is secretly disposed of.
If an irresponsible organisation lays its hands on a nuclear weapon, the danger of its
use is ever present and the next use of a nuclear weapon will not be on a sitting target like
Hiroshima or Nagasaki which were unable to retaliate. The next use of a nuclear weapon will
prevoke the use of a nuclear weapon in return, resultig in a nuclear winter which destroys
global vegetation and will spell the end of civilisation as we know it.
All this was well described by the Soviet scientist Kapitsa, giving evidence before the
US Senate in 1983 and before the United Nations in 1985, where he described the total
darkness that will fall upon the earth in such an event; "It will cause such profound and severe
effects on the climate causing cold weather and blocking sunlight for a period of months or
even years by emission of large amounts of firestorm, smoke and soot into the earth’s
stratosphere".
This multiplicity of dangers strangely passes unheeded by the legal profession, by the
general public and by the powers that be, leaving us with the clear impression that mankind is
heading towards its doom unless these dangers are brought under control.
Obstacles to be overcome
All of this prompts an enquiry regarding the factors that stand in the way of attention
to this problem.
The first is the cloak of secrecy surrounding most of these environment endangering
operations, such as nuclear testing, disposal of nuclear waste, discharge of waste by factories
and carbon emissions. All of these are done with careful attention to keeping this information
away from the general public.
It is important that the principle of transparency at every level be insisted upon and
that organisations like Transparency International continue to do the steering work at this
connection, which needs to be better known and amplified.
Another major obstacle is the strength of the military/industrial/technological
complex, which is responsible for well over 90% of the pollution that now takes place.
All of these entities are focused on short-term results, whether they be next year’s
balance sheet or the next election, which will take place in two or three year’s time. The longterm perspectives spanning generations yet to come are totally outside their purview.
By way of contrast native American tribes thought of the impact of their actions for
seven generations to come and all religions have emphasised the concept of trusteeship of
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earth resources which are meant to be enjoyed by us and not to be damaged or depleted.
Scriptual reading from every religion can be cited in support of this but strangely modern
legal systems, both domestic and international, seemed to have lost sight of this important
perspective.
When we consider that each of these entities involved in this conflict has powers
which far exceed even the power of most nation states, we will realise how difficult the task is
of imposing controls on such powerful entities.
This is where national legal systems and international law have to rise to the
challenge, and this will be dealt with in a later section.
The strength of the military complex is immense, having regard to its enormous
budgets, its closeness to the centrals of political power and its linkage with problems of
national security. What the military demands is hard to resist and the argument of national
security tends to override all other considerations.
Likewise, the strength of the corporate establishment often functioning through
multinational cooperations, is difficult to resist. Several major corporations have greater
budgets than over 150 of the nations of the world. They often deal with the governments of
nation states on a theoretical footing of equality, when in fact they are in a position to lay
down and dictate terms to the poor country in which they proposed to operate. The legal
principle that the lettel of the contract must be obeyed prevails over the need to consider the
manifest unfairness of a contract heavily weighted in favour of the more powerful contracting
party.
Likewise, the strength of the technological establishment, combined with the expert
scientific knowledge at its command makes it difficult for its power to be resisted. The need
for ethical codes for scientists engaged in activities that pose a danger to human rights have
been grossly overlooked. I myself have had the privilege of drafting an ethical code for
nuclear scientists stressing their responsibility for the eventual outcome of their scientific
work.1 Such codes need to be drawn and adopted by all bodies of scientists because the effect
of their work goes far beyond their laboratories and can cause untold damage to the human
body, human society and the environment.2
When these forces are combined, as they often are, their combined power is nearly
irresistible and few, even among nation states, have the power to resist.
Every component element of the military/industrial/technological complex focus on
short-term objectives for reasons already stated and the long-term objective of future
generations is furthest from their contemplation.
Public apathy
A major problem to be overcome in countering environmental damage done by major
actors on the international scene is the almost total apathy of the general public who do not
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2
Reproduced in the Encyclopedia of Social Inventions, London.
See The Slumbering Sentinels: Law and Technology in the Wake of Technology, Penguin, 1983.
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raise their voices in protest. They adapt this quiescent attitude for several reasons. One reason
is lack of information, another is a feeling of helplessness in the face of such conglomerations
of power. Yet another reason is the feeling that however much they may protest, their protest
will be unheeded for lack of enforcement power. A further reason is their belief that the legal
system is weighted against them and that even if they go to court to assert their rights they
will have little chance of success.
All these reasons in combination leave the perpetrators of environmental damage free
to pursue their activities in the confidence that the voice of protest, if any, will be ineffective.
An important task awaiting attention is the task of spreading information to the general public
of the numerous organisations working in this field. The steps already taken by UN
organisations, churches, environmental organisations and others, all of which are meaningful
and can be strengthened by popular participation. An outstanding example is the Assisi
Declaration 1986 which was a combined declaration of all religions on our duties to protect
and preserve the environment. This was a declaration named after Saint Francis of Assisi
(1181-1216) who was very sensitive to the concept of human duties towards the environment.
Shortcomings of legal systems
All this damaging activity and ineffectiveness of protest occur against the background
of the failure of national legal systems and of international law to take meaningful steps to
ensure and protect the rights of future generations to an environment undefiled by us.
Current legal systems are structured on the basis that if one’s rights are being
infringed, one must appear in court to protect them. There are organisations that may espouse
one’s calls, but the citizens’ ultimate recourse is the judicial system. Legal systems around the
world are structured on this basis. If the party affected does not complain, the violation of
rights that have been committed goes ahead without any restraint from the law.
In this day and age, it is perplexing that legal systems should yet function on this basis,
especially when one considers that the people whose rights are trampled upon are not yet born
and cannot possibly appear in court to defend their rights.
This is a curious anomaly and a strange gap in our legal systems, especially in this
21st century which is supposedly so advanced in the protection of basic rights.
Insitutions such as an Ombudsman for Future Generations are a sterling way of
remedying this shortcoming and it is wonderful to see this institution already adopted in
Hungary and some other countries.
Yet much work remains to be done in giving such Ombudsmen the power to appear in
court, to present the case for future generations and obtain a decree that will be binding on the
highest authorities.
No legal system can claim to be adequate if it fails to provide such a basic mechanism
for the protection of the rights of future citizens merely because they are not yet in existence.
In fact, this would even appear ludicrous in the eyes of an impartial observer assassing the
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value of any legal system, seeing that even the most ancient human societies attached great
importance to the protection of their posterity.
It would be absurd to contend that this protection is restricted only to the rights of
children already born. Children not yet born have an even greater right to the protection of
their basic entitlements as human beings.
All customary systems of law and all religions stress this duty towards those who are
unable to assert their rights. Just one illustration is a statement of Jesus Christ himself that it
would be better for those who pose obstacles in the way of children to have a millstone tide
around their necks and to be drowned in the sea than to continue posing obstacles in the way
of children.3 Similar quotations can be made from the scriptures of all religions e.g. in ancient
Hinduism the duties of kings to protect the environment in all its aspects were minutely
specified as early as 3rd century BC in such treatises as Kautilya’s Arthasastra. When
Buddhism taught very clearly that the environment is to be enjoyed by us, but only on the
basis of trusteeship with a duty to preserve it for those who would enjoy it after us. In Islam
the Qur’an clearly states that it is our duty to ’tread lightly on the earth’ and that ’it is He who
made you trustees of the Earth,’4 using it but not in such a manner as to lessen its value for
future generations. Yet civilised society and the legal systems of today seem to permit such
environmentally damaging conduct which has been universally condemned since the
beginnings of civilised society. How much worse would it be if those affected are our
children’s children and their children are ad infinitum.
We thus arrive at the conclusion that this gaping hole in all legal systems needs
urgently to be filled and it is the business of all who value the human future to rise to their
responsibilities and remedy this defect which runs through all legal systems.
Even more importantly international law must look upon itself as the custodian of the
human future. It needs to strengthen its resources in safeguarding these future members of the
global family who do not as yet have a voice to speak for themselves. Trampling on their
rights because they do not protest seems barbaric and absurd.
If international law is to be true to its mission of acheiving and strengthening a world
of peace and justice this major defect needs urgently to be remedied.
This is a call to international lawyers to take a wider view of the reach of their
discipline and extend its frontiers to the point where it protects unborn generations from the
rapaciousness of the present. International law would be failing in its mission if it could not
discharge this trust.
A call to action
This message is a call to all levels of society to do whatever they can as individuals
and as groups to prevent the pillage of future generations that is now occuring without let or
hindrance from the law.
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Matthew 18:6
Qur’an 25:53 and 6:165
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Every individual has a duty to interest himself or herself in this damage now being
done to his or her children and their children. The feeling of apathy, now so widely prevelant,
needs to be shaken off. The contribution of every individual matters.
Social and community groups, churches, religious associations, political parties,
universities, learned societies and all other citizen groups need to realize the urgency of this
call and to interest themselves in this fundamental problem endangering the human future.
Organisations such as the Hungarian Ombudsman’s Office, the World Future Council,
the Oxford Martin Commission for Future Generations, the McGill Center for International
Sustainable Development Law and others too numerous to mention have done considerable
work in relevant fields, which needs to be known by the global public. All these must be
brought together and a collective action formulated on such matters as peace education,
transparency, coalitions for collective action, cross-cultural and interreligious understanding,
sensitising multinational cooperations to their environmental obligations, researching areas of
immediate danger, reducing poverty levels and organising a public information service on the
environmental danger.
The voice of protest must be raised to the extent that those in political power will
realise that the votes they obtain are dependent on their concern as human beings for our
children and our children’s children.
I draw attention in this connection to General Assembly Resolution on the Historical
Responsibility of States for the Preservation of Nature for the Present and Future Generations
(General Assembly Resolution 35/8 of 30th October 1980). A concerted campaign needs to be
mounted to draw the attention of every state to its responsibilities under this resolution and in
particular to Article 3 which calls upon states to take measures including legislative measures
necessary for this purpose.
A necessary step in this direction is the education of the general public at all levels.
There needs to be dissemination of information from the school rooms to the board rooms of
major companies and from the village level to the level of national parliaments. Let there be a
universal call to action through universal education from the school room upwards regarding
the magnitude of this danger.
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If a country is under attack, all citizens join together to defend it. Human civilisation is
now under attack and the citizens of all countries cannot continue any longer to remain silent
and inactive.
This is an urgent message, to all who are concerned with the human future, to discard
their apathy and rise to the defence of humanity and civilisation.
C. G. Weeramantry
Budapest, 23 April 2014